News

Speed and strength the key for seven rider Hammer Series squad

Tue 30 May 2017

ORICA-SCOTT today confirmed their seven-rider squad for the inaugural Hammer Series event set to take place in the Netherlands this weekend with a slight change to the line up as Australian Michael Hepburn comes in to replace the injured Sam Bewley.

The Hammer Series is a unique new series of races run in partnership by Infront Sports and Media and Velon, that will take place over three intense days of competition with a team vs team format across three key disciplines including; the Hammer Sprint, the Hammer Climb and finally the Hammer Chase.

“We are really looking forward to this revolutionary new cycling event,” said Sport director Matt Wilson. “It is a fantastic format and should produce some very exciting racing.”

“We have selected the best possible team for this event, a squad we believe to have the right characteristics to achieve a good result.”

Alexander Edmondson comes into the team after a string of positive results at the Tour de Romandie and valuable experience at the Giro d’Italia. In his first season concentrating on road racing the young Australian brings speed and vital technical ability from his multiple successes on the track.

Lead out specialists Mitch Docker and Roger Kluge complete the team along with Hepburn coming direct from the Giro d’Italia to replace Bewley who is recovering from a broken finger.

Before sustaining his injury whilst training in Colombia with Tour de France contender Esteban Chaves, the big New Zealander made some interesting points regarding world cycling’s new event.

“I think that it’s a new opportunity for cycling” explained Bewley. “Velon is doing a great job of promoting this event and it’s a new initiative. Cycling is a very traditional sport so when new initiatives come along like that I think they are worth supporting.”

“It’s going to be huge for the fans, everything’s centralised it’s on the same circuit, short circuits so you can see a lot of the race and hopefully there will be a bit of a party atmosphere out there as well. It looks to be an event that can grow and promote our sport a lot.”

Five riders from each team of seven will be selected to tackle each day’s discipline with the objective being to cross the finish line first after three tough days of competition.

The three different disciplines will be contested over multiple circuits of 8-10kilometres to ensure that the spectators have the best view possible of the action as it unfolds with each team competing for available points that accumulate to decide the series winner.